Laser diode arrays are used in a wide range of commercial, medical and military applications: materials processing (soldering, cutting, metal hardening), display technology/graphics, medical surgical procedures (corneal shaping, tissue fusion, dermatology, photodynamic therapy), satellite communication, remote sensing and laser isotope separation. In certain solid-state laser applications it is desirable to use laser diode arrays to optically excite, i.e., “pump,” the crystal hosts. Diodes offer a narrow band of emission (reducing thermal lensing), compactness, high electrical efficiency and higher reliability as compared to flash lamps. Despite these numerous advantages, however, diode-pumped solid-state lasers (DPSSLs) have gained slow market acceptance due to the high cost associated with the laser diode array pumps. Significant diode array cost reductions would enable wide deployment of DPSSLs and new architectures to be realized that were previously cost prohibitive. In particular, low-cost diode arrays would bolster the inertial confinement fusion (ICF) and inertial fusion energy (IFE) programs that require low-repetition rate laser diode arrays in very high volumes.
Laser diode arrays dissipate a large amount of heat that needs to be effectively channeled away from the diodes. One of the methods to control the costs of the laser diodes is to generate more optical power out of each diode. As the amount of optical power outputted from each diode increases, the cost of running a laser diode array decreases—i.e. the cost per watt of power decreases. However, the downside to running the laser diodes at increased optical output is that they generate enormous amounts of heat that need to be dissipated. Consequently, advanced heat abatement mechanisms are needed in order to run laser diode arrays at increased outputs. This in-turn increases the cost of packaging a laser diode since more effective cooling of the laser diodes is needed.
What is needed is a low cost package that effectively dissipates the heat generated by the laser diode when the laser diode is operated at elevated optical output power.